Czech artist Oldrich Kulhanek work on display

Etchings and lithographs by Czech artist Oldrich Kulhanek are currently on display in the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Art Department Gallery, Building 395 on the Manono Campus. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Mondays and Wednesdays, and 1 p.m. - 4 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Kulhanek was the central figure in a series of Kafkaesque political incidents in the early 1970s. The Czech secret police arrested him, alleging that a number of his prints from the past three years disgraced communist icons, in particular, Josef Stalin. A judge ordered 11 of his prints to be burned, but instead kept the art for himself – in effect, state-sanctioned theft.

Kulhanek now exhibits his work and lectures internationally. He designed the new Czech Republic currency and is one of the top designers of stamps in his homeland. His work is displayed in the Albertina in Vienna, the Kupferstichkabinet in Dresden, the Pompidou Center in Paris and the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

The exhibit, which is on display through January 2010, is made possible with support from the UH Hilo Student Activities Council and the University of Houston at Clear Lake.